


Cloak and Diary

by DaHammer



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:46:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24151528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaHammer/pseuds/DaHammer
Summary: Very few teenagers want to take over the world, and fewer still get a chance to see it through. Tom Riddle has been given a second attempt at his greatest desire, and in spite of his hubris, he's not foolish enough to let it pass him by.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter, Lavender Brown/Ron Weasley, Tom Riddle/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 3
Kudos: 40
Collections: Harmony For Essentials Gift Exchange





	Cloak and Diary

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ForeverEvan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForeverEvan/gifts).



This is slightly over the 2,000 word limit, just FYI. I hope you enjoy it, and thanks for all of the work you guys do out there!

The Deathly Hallows are shrouded in mystery, and have been since their creation. Before Harry Potter threw the diary into his trunk, he had a sudden epiphany to wrap it in his invisibility cloak. The cloak typically works on living beings, and the semi-active Horcrux just barely qualified. When Ginny tore through the boys' dorm room, her inhibitions prevented her from taking enough time to truly ransack the place. Compulsions or not, McGonagall was bloody terrifying.

Tom Riddle's soul would gradually retreat back into the diary until it was used again. As the Horcrux became dormant, the cloak would stop recognizing it as human, and thus stop hiding it. The basilisk rested again, no one was brought down to the Chamber of Secrets, and in spite of the scare, Hogwarts was not shut down. Lockhart wasn't fired at year's end, but when he heard that Sirius Black escaped to murder the Boy-Who-Lived, he decided that his talents were best served elsewhere.

Harry did somehow manage to slip the diary past his relatives the summer following Second Year. With nothing else to do, he wrote in it on a regular basis. At first, Tom was thrilled at the chance to learn about the boy who somehow destroyed his older form, and then steal his very soul to become truly human again. Those plans abruptly changed when he felt the pull from a portion of his own soul within Harry. His attempt to retreat was wildly unsuccessful, and he was sucked into Harry's consciousness. His last thought as he was ripped from the diary was "Shit."  
"Tom?" Harry said out loud after there was no response from the diary.  
He felt a sigh from within his own head, "Hello, Harry Potter."  
Tom spent the rest of the night explaining things to Harry. Tom found that he wasn't able to slip a lie past Harry, which made the explaining much more complicated initially, and then infinitely more simple when Tom gave up on lying to him altogether. Tom spoke of being slighted as an orphan, becoming bitter, and then swearing vengeance on the lot. Harry's confused retort of "Why would you ruin your life when you could just live better than all of them?" completely derailed Tom's arguments.  
"FUCK." Tom exclaimed. "That would have been the best thing to do, wouldn't it? I was talented, respected, and a prodigy. I could have had it all, and then gotten to watch their stupid faces in envious agony for the rest of their miserable lives." There was a long pause as Tom realigned his thoughts, "We're taking over the world, Harry."  
"I don't want to take over the world."  
Tom laughed, "You will once you get older and realize how stupid the people around you are."

The rest of the summer passed slowly. Tom's diatribe about how disgusting and useless Marge was got Harry into trouble, but also prevented him from blowing her up. Ripper came after Harry once, but Tom found that he could still use a modicum of wandless magic from within Harry. Ripper was terrified of them after that point and left them well enough alone.

The Dementors still made their way onto the train. Tom was horrified by Harry's memory, as he had no understanding of why his older self would brutally murder an entire family, especially when the mother and child weren't making an attempt to fight back. He realized that he became a monster sometime after his first Horcrux, and he was not shy in informing Harry of this. Tom also caught the reactions of those around him when Harry came to again. Although he mostly dismissed their uncalculating and genuine concern as Gryffindor foolishness, he also began to understand the strength of having such bonds with people. As Harry slept that night, Tom properly went through Harry's memories for information on his classmates. Once he'd finished that, he looked at Harry's life prior to Hogwarts. He was shocked that the Wizarding World would let that happen to their Hero, but he was even more surprised that Harry hadn't murdered them all by now. He would have.

\-----

Peter's pleas for help fell on deaf ears. Harry insisted that they not kill the man outright, but lock him in a cage and hand him to the Minister. Remus immediately agreed, and Sirius followed along once Harry drilled into his head that he would be free, dammit. Unfortunately, Minister Fudge took the rat and did absolutely nothing to clear Sirius. Harry and Tom gave the Ministry two weeks to make an announcement about it, and once none was forthcoming, they knew that it had been covered up.  
"Still don't want to take over the world, Harry?"  
"No, Tom. I'm not even fit to be Minister."  
"Fudge deserves to be Minister then?"  
"I'm not sure that anyone deserves to be Minister."  
Tom let it go after that. It was progress, after all.

\-----

"HARRY POTTER!"  
"Oh fuck no." Tom's immediate response was echoed by Harry. Hermione gave him a look for his language, but she was completely ignored.  
"Harry! Please step forward." Dumbledore insisted.  
"Fuck that." Tom said within his head, "Do the vow right now, or else this entire school is going to hate you. Look around you, Harry. In this situation, you're the villain. Do the damn vow."  
"I, Harry James Potter, swear upon my magic and my life that I did not enter myself into the Tri-Wizard Tournament, nor did I have anyone enter my name for me. I further swear that I do not wish to participate in this tournament as a champion and that I am in fact terrified of doing so."  
"Dammit Harry. You're not supposed to admit to that." Tom chastised.  
"So mote it be!"  
"It makes it more believable, Tom." Harry retorted.  
The silence settled onto the room like a living being. After giving it a few seconds, Harry snarked, "Huh. Not dead. Brilliant," and then sat right back down. The silence continued unabated until Harry rolled his eyes. "Expecto Patronum!" As Prongs danced around the room, Harry continued the snark, "Still have my magic too. Amazing." He then turned to Ron, whose face was set in an unpleasant expression. "Why do people have to keep trying to kill me, Ron?"  
"You didn't enter yourself?" Ron still sounded doubtful.  
"Ronald Weasley! Harry just made a vow on it!" Hermione hissed at him.  
Harry had since put his glasses on the table and was rubbing his eyes. "I'm going to need your help, mate." Harry glanced at Hermione "Yours too, obviously." Then he slammed his head onto the table with a grunt. "I hate my bloody life sometimes."  
"If it makes you feel any better, mate," Ron replied "somebody else agrees with you."  
Hermione did not appreciate his humor.

\-----

Harry still had to join the other champions in the antechamber. He was received reasonably well when he mentioned the vow he'd taken in front of the entire school. Cedric gave him a wry smile and said "Why can't you just have a normal year?"  
Dumbledore's platitudes and useless comments were ignored, though Snape's snarking was not. "I'm absolutely thrilled that you think I'm powerful enough to fool a Magical Vow, Professor Snape, but I humbly remind you that I am only 14 years of age." Snape was not amused, but Dumbledore and the other Champions were, so overall Harry determined that the snark was successful. Long story short, Harry still had to compete. While he wasn't surprised by this turn of events, he was far from pleased by them.  
"So, taking over the world?" Tom asked again.  
Harry just grunted. "This is about Voldemort, Tom."  
"Voldemort didn't put a magical artifact capable of forcing people into magical contracts in a school of children. Someone else obviously entered you. Could you have entered Dumbledore's name? Or Snape? Or a first year? A pathetic age line was all he used. You could have probably levitated the paper into the cup, or better yet, thrown it like a Muggle."  
Harry grumbled something unflattering.

\-----

"Robe me."  
Harry looked up at the new and improved Voldemort. This was not a happy situation to be in.  
"I can touch you now." Voldemort sent out a Legimency probe to further enjoy the pain he knew he was about to put his nemesis through. He was shocked when his probe was batted away. Mind magics have a unique feel to them, and Voldemort was familiar with his own technique.  
He put aside his plans of summoning his faithful for the moment. He had to figure this out first. "What are you?"  
Harry grunted, "Tom says hello."  
"You LIE. Crucio!"  
After he lifted the curse, Harry panted for a moment. "Tom says you're a monster and an idiot."  
"CRUCIO!"  
Harry moved out of the way of the curse. "Once was enough, thanks."  
Voldemort looked at Harry suspiciously. "You're the diary, then. I demolished all evidence of that name after that."  
Harry ignored him for the time being. Tom was screaming that the portkey was the only way out, but Harry hadn't made any progress in wandless magic yet.  
"Give him his wand, Wormtail." Voldemort commanded. He turned to Harry with a sinister smile. "And then, we will duel, and you will die."  
"I'm his insurance and he wants to kill me?!" Tom was fuming at the stupidity he was witnessing. As Harry reached down to pick up the wand that Peter threw at his feet, Tom summoned the portkey hard enough to nearly break Harry's leg.

Tom was in a towering rage for the next few days. Voldemort had become the very thing Tom wished to eradicate from the Wizarding World, and he wouldn't let that stand. Rage turned into simmering resentment as he actively sought to destroy Voldemort. He started categorizing magic and knowledge to give to Harry while he slept, and other things that Harry needed to consciously be aware of. He was going to take over the world, but first he was going to destroy his older self. Not only was Voldemort a threat to his carefully-laid plans, he was also criminally insane, and thus needed to be put down.

The next morning's Prophet screamed "MALFOY MANOR DESTROYED. LORD AND LADY MALFOY ASSASSINATED." Tom laughed harder and longer than he should have at that, but he was also mildly appalled. "By all accounts, Lucius was my door into the Ministry... an invaluable asset that Voldemort just destroyed. In addition, the Black Vault will swallow up the Malfoy money, which puts those funds out of reach." He paused for a moment, "Regardless of your views on murder, what Voldemort just did was incredibly stupid."  
Harry couldn't help but agree.

\-----

"Your Godfather is fine, Harry."  
"But the vision-"  
"That is Voldemort's doing."  
"How can you be sure of that?"  
"Voldemort recognized me in your mind. I can recognize him as well."  
"I need to contact Sirius."  
"Use the damn mirror, Harry."  
Harry froze. He'd been making plans to do something Tom would qualify as 'incredibly stupid.' He groaned, "I forgot about that."  
"That much is obvious." Sirius was, in fact, completely fine. Tom was incredibly smug about that fact, and wasn't shy in informing Harry.

Later that night, Tom said, "I have an idea that would solve both of our problems, Harry."  
"That's a terrifying thing to hear from you, Tom."  
"I can enter Hogwarts as a Sixth Year with you next year."  
"Wouldn't Professor Dumbledore recognize you?"  
"Shit. I hadn't thought about that." Tom paused, "So, let's take over the world?"  
"No." Harry replied, "It needs a revamping, but I'm not the person to do it."  
Tom made a humming noise. "Are you at least going to start dating Hermione?"  
"WHAT?"  
Tom cackled.

\-----

"Dumbledore is dying." Tom's voice echoed through Harry's head. "Look at his left hand. That's a Withering Curse. I don't know how he managed to stop it, but it will eat through his magic until his body gives up. At his age, I'd give him a year to survive at most.  
"Can we do anything about it?"  
"Not likely. It's one of those curses that's specifically created to have no full counter to it."  
"Bollocks." Harry swore.  
"Harry, I need you to retrieve the true memory from Professor Slughorn." Dumbledore's voice cut through Harry's mental conversation.  
"Seven." Harry immediately replied.  
"I'm sorry?"  
"Tom said he was going to make six, and have a seventh part in his body."  
Dumbledore was speechless. "Tom?"  
"Yes, Professor. He's been in my head since after Second Year."  
Dumbledore subtly drew his wand, "Harry, my boy, you should have told me."  
Harry shrugged, "He's been helpful, and he genuinely hates Voldemort. He doesn't know what happened, but somewhere between him and now, Voldemort turned into an absolute moron."  
Dumbledore's lips pinched enough to make a reasonable impression of McGonagall. "Can he take over your body?"  
Tom levitated the large book on the Headmaster's desk. "He can do that in short bursts, and saved us from Voldemort in the graveyard with a Summoning Charm, but that's it."  
"Why are you telling me this now?"  
"Because Tom says you're dying, and even though he hates you, continuing to lie to you would be counter-productive to seeing Voldemort dead at this point."  
"He is Voldemort, Harry."  
"He is not Voldemort, Professor. They both feel differently to me. He certainly has his flaws, and he's bitter and angry at times, but he isn't Voldemort. He wants to rule the world, not destroy it."  
"Is that what you've determined, or what Tom has told you?"  
"Both." Harry replied honestly.  
"Tom hates Muggles and Muggleborns, Harry." Dumbledore warned.  
"Tom suggested dating Hermione," Harry replied, "And you've given me plenty of reason to hate Muggles too."  
"Harry, I--"  
"I don't hate them, Headmaster, but I have reason to."  
"May I look?" Dumbledore asked.  
Tom sighed, "Tell him to go ahead. I'll be good."  
Harry just nodded.

"Tom Riddle is truly inside your head." Dumbledore said as he sunk back into his chair.  
"Yes he is. He is also not Voldemort."  
"No, he is not." Dumbledore agreed, "My apologies for the insinuation."  
"No harm done."  
"Tom wants a body again."  
"Of course he does. Would you want to be locked up at sixteen and put into someone else's head for the rest of your life?"  
Dumbledore ignored him. "Tom, would you be willing to make an Unbreakable Vow concerning certain things if you regained a body?"  
"Depending on what they are, yes." Harry replied.  
Dumbledore nodded. "I will think on this and call for you again. Good night, Harry, Tom."

\-----

After a bit of back and forth, Tom agreed to the terms. They ventured down to the Chamber of Secrets, slayed a Basilisk, and then used a ritual to pull the soul shard into its own body.  
"Fuck, that felt weird." Tom muttered to himself. He looked Harry over, "Mr. Potter" he said as he stuck out his hand, "Pleased to meet you."  
Harry swatted the hand away and gave a very surprised Tom a hug. "It's Harry, Tom." Dumbledore was privy to Tom's teary-eyed reaction, and that gave him more hope for the future than the Unbreakable Vow that Tom made to Harry with Dumbledore as the binder.

The very next day Thomas Evans (Tom chose his last name specifically to agitate Voldemort; Snape was an unintended bonus) was accepted as a transfer student into Hogwarts. He was sorted into Slytherin, but he sat with Harry and the Gryffindors. Ginny recognized him almost immediately, and confronted him after lunch. Tom apologized profusely for the trouble and pain he caused her, and Harry suggested that he make it up to her by taking her to Hogsmeade.  
Harry realized for himself how very sweet revenge was.  
"Of course, Harry." Tom nodded without skipping a beat, "Ginerva, would you do me the absolute honor of joining me in Hogsmeade the weekend after next?"  
Ginny's cheeks matched her hair, "Of course, Tom." She turned to Harry, "Will you join us, Harry?"  
"Of course he will." Tom replied easily for him. "Though, he will require a date as well, so he doesn't feel left out."  
"I hate you." Harry thought to himself.  
"You don't really." Tom said aloud.  
"I'm considering it." Harry argued.  
"Hermione Granger, might we have a moment of your time?" Tom asked.  
Harry sighed to himself as she walked up to them. "It's a really long story that I'll tell you later, Hermione." Harry said.  
Tom nodded, "He does have something to ask you now, though."  
Harry looked around to calm himself, and definitely not to procrastinate at all. Ginny was smiling wickedly, Ron and Lavender were both looking on amused, and Hermione was studying him expectantly and with a little trepidation.  
"Hermione, would you be so kind as to join me in Hogsmeade?"  
She blinked, "Of course Harry! We always go together!" She took in another breath to continue, but stopped when she saw his amused expression. "Oh."  
"I was unclear." Harry replied, "I meant as a date."  
"A date?"  
"Yes Hermione! A date!" Ginny interrupted, "With hand-holding and snogging and--" Both Harry and Tom cleared their throats in unison, and then shared an amused look.  
Hermione looked back to Harry. "Yes. I would like that very much, Harry."  
"Oh, Thank Merlin."


End file.
